My Big Human Brother

I groan to myself as I blankly stared at the chalk board while Mrs Cheerilee writes the math problems out. While she blabs on, Will nudges me from the right. I look over at him and he points with his thumb at another certain human. I follow his thumb to see that rich uptight boy from the other day, writing something out on a small paper. He giggles to himself like a schoolfilly and keeps writing. I look at Will with a puzzled expression. He writes a note and passes it to me while Mrs Cheerilee isn't looking. I look at all the scribbles he made: I have a real bad feeling about him. I look at my adopted bro with a puzzled look again. He sighs quietly and twirls his index finger, and holds up three fingers. Earlier we set up a little code system in case we need to say something, or in case we need to talk or do something. He just said we should talk after school. While there are a handful of codes, they contain phrases that are important. It's made of two hand gestures at a time. Twirling your finger/hoof means time, and the amount of fingers you hold up or times you tap your hood say when. I nod understandingly and turn back to Mrs Cheerilee. She finished writing out the problem and looked at all of us students.

"Alright class! Anyone want to take a crack out of this?" She asks with a cheerful attitude. I can tell by Will's expression, that he took one look at it and gave up. I look at it. It says: x+2•7-10=39. Before I could even begin thinking of the answer, I hear Arthur yell.

"Five!" He yells out, making every pony around him jump in surprise.

"... Thank you, Arther, for yelling out the answer instead of raising your hand," Cheerilee says.

"No worries teacher," he replied. I can feel tension in the room rise. Cheerilee looked at the clock and sighed.

"It's three everyone! Get plenty of rest for the quiz on history tomorrow!" Cheerilee says as everyone packs their bags. I follow Will as he leads me out of school and to the road leading home.

"... Hey Will? What was it that got ya worryin' about that rich boy, Arther was it?" I ask. He nods.

"I heard that he was gonna do something to someone tonight. I figured that we should get home and try to find him to keep an eye on. At any rate, I might have just misheard, but I think he said something about an alley," he says. We stop as a sudden noise hit our ears, like soft breathing, getting louder and louder with running steps. We see one of our classmates gallop past us, a scared expression plastered on his face. I quickly realize that it's Featherweight, and he was being chased by Arther and what appears to be his new lackeys. They shove past us, and Will gets knocked down. "Alright that does it!" He says, getting up. He makes a break for the chase and I run off to a store nearby to get help.

Me and the Sofas and Quill's store clerk arrive to an alley, hearing a fight full of punching, and yelling. We found the corner to see Arther and Will on the floor, Will struggling to keep Arther down while Arther's lackeys just keep yelling at Arther to get up. "Will!" I yell out, galloping. "They're over here! Come on!" I yell out to the clerk. The lackeys grab Will by his arms and threw him off, getting Arther to his feet. Before he left, Arther spun around, spat down at Will and made a break for it. We come running up to Will, making sure he's okay before getting him up. Will wipes off the saliva on his cheek before gritting his teeth, staring up at the sky.

"I can't believe the nerve of that thug! He was gonna mug Featherweight, Applebloom! He was just gonna beat him up just because he said he wouldn't give Arther anything! Featherweight's not hurt, but still! I'm gonna give that wriggling rat a piece of my mind if I ever so much as-" I hug Will, making him stop. I sob as I hug him, trying to hug tighter to make sure he doesn't leave.

"Don't do that again, please?" I ask. He sighs, hugging back. The store clerk made sure he was okay with a quick impromptu check up, and says that he'll probably get quite a few minor bruises. We came home a little later, Granny Smith gave us both an earful of pulling a stunt like we did, but she hugged us both, still thankful we were alright. We sit in the dinner table as Granny Smith talks about her day. She gets out some letters and passes one to me, and then passes one to Will. I eye his envelope. I shrug and open mine, it was from Applejack.

Dear Applebloom, me and Big Mac have been doin' well over on our end. We heard of Will's little 'date' with Scootaloo and wish him the best of luck! We hope you're don't okay without us.

Love, AJ and Big Mac.

PS: I kinda figured Will would like Scootaloo, just make sure that they don't bang their heads together to see who's more hardheaded.

I chuckle at the end of the letter, and eye Will's letter. "Hey brother, who's the letter from?" I ask. I look up at Will to see his grim face.

"... No one," he says simply, and gets up to walk to the fireplace. He lights it and throws the letter into the fire. Granny and I stare at the fireplace with jaws open. We exchange glances before looking at Will, who just stares into the fire. We had a silent agreement to not talk about it by merely staring at the fire.

It's about midnight, nothing's happened yet, and I'm tired. I go ahead and head off to bed, just before I hear Will mutter, "I'm home now Dad, manehatten is not my life anymore." I reel back to his room, seeing him on the bed, curled up slightly, facing the wall. "I said no, Dad go away," he mutters. I sigh, knowing he's got nightmares. I tug on his shirt and he wakes up slowly. "Huh?" He turns to me. "... Applebloom? What're you doing up?" He asks.

"Ya'll were mumbling in your sleep and you kept pacing," I say, my fatigue starting to show. He sighs, scratches his head and nods.

"Thanks, I guess. Now go to bed, tomorrow's Saturday and don't we have chores to do?" He asks. I shake my head.

"We did them yesterday remember? You gotta date with Scootaloo," I tease. He takes a pillow and puts it over his head groaning.